The Top 10 Fitness Trends of the Decade 2000-2009

10. Water Aerobics. People have been swimming laps in the pool for years, but only in the past decade did it become common place to conduct group classes in the pool. The classes are conducted using foam tubes, floating dumbbells, and kick boards. The popularity of the classes was heightened in specific demographics such as pre and post natal women, seniors, and people recouping from injuries. Due to the low impact of the exercises and fewer injury risks, aqua aerobics greatly appealed to this demographic.

9. Personal Trainers. They existed before 2000, but personal trainers use to be something only the wealthy person had. In the past decade trainers have become so common place that virtually anyone can afford them. Some personal trainer work in and are hired by gyms people use and others work independently and will travel to your home or a meeting place. Some people hire trainers to reach certain weight loss goals, while others use them for specific goals, like training to run a 5K or a marathon.

8. Boot Camp. Only in the past decade has something previously feared by recent army recruits become a service consumers willingly shell out large amounts of cash for. Early AM boot training style group classes taught by Navy seals or fitness gurus, inside and outside of gyms have become popular ways to jump start or pick up the pace in a new workout regimen.

7. Pre and Post Natal Fitness. Pregnant women use to resign themselves to the bed (or couch) and fill up on all their favorite otherwise forbidden treats. Now, with the pressure to bounce back quickly after giving birth and updated medical advice suggesting that gaining more than the advised 35 pounds can cause harm to your child, working out while pregnant has become the norm. Gyms and fitness studios host a whole menu of fitness classes geared toward women who are in different stages of their pregnancy. Pilates during pregnancy is a good way to stay in shape as well as a way to tone and strengthen your pelvic was to assist and ease labor pain.

6. Nintendo Wii. It was only time that someone combined our love of technology with our need for more physical fitness. The Nintendo wii is a gaming system that allows you to direct the using motion control that the system is able to detect. There has been Wii fit traditional sporting games for the system including bowling and tennis as well as an accompanying Wii Balance Board. There are also programs that scan your body telling you where you fit in terms of BMI and body fat percentage and where you need to get to working as a virtual personal trainer.

5. Pole dancing. Exotic dancers were the only ones that ever really needed, or wanted, to know how to pole dance, but in the past decade that all changes. Between Carmen Electra's DVD series Striptease and local classes offered at gyms and in fitness studios which offer traditional dance lessons, you can take a course to learn how to pole and exotic dance.

4. Dance. With the popularity of the TV show Dancing with the Stars ballroom and professional dance has become incredibly popular. One example is the Latin dance fitness craze Zumba. Zumba is a dance based exercise class set to Latin music. The classes include some strength training moves working the arms, legs, and abs although the class focuses primarily on cardiovascular endurance. The types of dance taught are basic salsa, cumbia, cha-cha, and merenge dance music (Swiech, 2009). Women of all ages, all the way to senior citizens have embraced the Zumba craze.

3. Strength Training. Lifting weights use to be activity only bodybuilders took part in, and women shunned weight for a free they would get too "bulky". When recent researched showed that weight lighting actually sped up metabolism by increasing lean muscle mass the same as, if not better than, aerobic exercise, this all changed. Weight lifting with 3-10 pound weights rather than new barbells and calling it "strength training" became vogue. (Milligan, 2002)

2. Core training. Also called "core conditioning" never before have we heard the term "core" so often in our vocabularies Core training is focused on strengthening the abs, back, chest and shoulder muscles before the arms and legs. A lot of the moves done to accomplish this, like crunches and push ups were nothing new, but the equipment certainly was. Stability and balance balls, wobble boards, and foam rollers are the new accessories in this core conditioning classes. Activities like Pilates also emphasized working on strengthening the core.

1. Yoga. By far the mind/body exercises have been the largest trend in the fitness industry in the past decade. Yoga, Tai Chi, and other Asian based exercise traditions that depend on a mindset and muscle for a complete workout have become huge draws. In the past seven years participations in yoga and tai chi has more than doubled, and Pilates has grown more then sevenfold according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (Hunsberger, 2000). According to a 2005 study by Yoga Journal 16.5 million Americans practice yoga and 2.95 billion is spent on yoga classes and products, including clothing (Nelson, 2006). The emphasis on stress reduction through exercise has grown enormously in this past decade.

Sources::
Hunsberger, Brent. "A new look at fitness." The Oregonian. Portland, Or. January 6, 2008.
Milligan, Jessie. "Check out these fitness fads for 2002". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. January 18, 2002.
Nelson, Annie. "Where fitness meets fashion: Stephens grad cashes in on yoga craze." Columbia Daily Tribune. MO, October 9, 2009.
Swiech, Paul. "Fun of Latin beats makes Zumba a fitness favorite in Twin Cities". The Pantograph. Bloomington, IL. May 2, 2009.